A selection has been made from the reports received from our correspondents, those which present material of a particularly interesting kind being printed in their entirety, or largely so. It should be emphasized that the choice of countries to be thus represented has depended on the nature of the information presented in the reports, not upon either the importance of the countries concerned or upon the character of the reports themselves.

Australia

In each of the Australian capital cities, the major Shakespearian production of 1957 was the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust Drama Company's Hamlet, with the visiting English actor Paul Rogers in the title role. Production was by Hugh Hunt. Reviews were generally favourable.

Probably none of the large cities was without other productions of Shakespeare during the year. In Sydney, for example, the Independent Theatre gave performances of both Macbeth (produced by Owen Weingott, with Leonard Teale, Patricia Hill and David Burnie in the leading roles) and The Merchant of Venice (produced by John Alden, with Patricia Hill as Portia, and Owen Weingott as Shylock).